Investigative Reporter Arrested.
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:33 am
So what do ya'll think? Should she of been arrested? She was investigating nursery safety after an infant was kidnapped last month from a Lubbock Hospital.
I posted the whole article, cause not sure ya'll really wanna sign up for the Amarillo Day News site.
The interest in the matter was high.
But when a Lubbock television reporter visited Amarillo hospitals for an investigative report about nursery security Tuesday night, she found a little more than she was looking for.
In the end, she became the story.
Amarillo police arrested Cecelia Lynn Coy-Jones, 33, of Lubbock, who works for the NBC affiliate KCBD Newschannel 11 in Lubbock, as she pursued an investigative story about nursery security at Baptist St. Anthony's Hospital and Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo.
The reporter faces two counts of attempted aggravated kidnapping, according to the Amarillo Police Department. She left the Potter County Detention Center about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday after paying $10,000 in bonds.
Her station, in a statement released Wednesday, said it went after the story in Amarillo "in the wake of recent infant kidnappings in Lubbock by individuals posing as nurses."
But how does a journalist report a story like that? The answers seem difficult to find.
Greg Bruce, vice president of the University Medical Center Health System in Lubbock, said in a written statement that infant security is "a paramount concern" for the UMC and all hospitals, but said "it is apparent this investigative reporter was on assignment in Amarillo, covering hospital security measures."
"She clearly demonstrated those measures work well at both Amarillo hospitals," he said. "I hope any misunderstanding related to her identity or intent will be quickly cleared."
Scott Libin, a faculty member at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., a school for journalists and journalism students, said he was worried by Coy-Jones' arrest because there is a "legitimate public policy issue" about nursery security.
Libin, a former television reporter and news director, said journalists should not be discouraged from pursuing investigative stories. But it also doesn't mean "anything goes."
"We talk a lot about minimizing harm in pursuing important truths," said Libin, managing editor of Poynter Online.
Libin said he was worried that, in this case, a journalist was being held to a higher standard than any other person visiting the Amarillo hospitals.
"If anyone else was standing around, not working on a news story, doing the same thing or otherwise, would that person be at the risk of the same thing? I worry if a journalist could get into trouble for what anyone else could do with impunity."
But, at the same time, Libin said he also is worried about some journalists' practices under the "banner of investigative reporting."
"Simply saying it's investigative doesn't make it journalism of the highest order," he said.
Libin said he hoped KCBD would report on Coy-Jones' arrest like any other news story and explain to viewers the decision-making process that led her to Amarillo's hospitals.
"I think in this case there is a story about what occurred," he said. "It might not be the story the station wanted to tell."
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032907/ ... 8122.shtml
I posted the whole article, cause not sure ya'll really wanna sign up for the Amarillo Day News site.
The interest in the matter was high.
But when a Lubbock television reporter visited Amarillo hospitals for an investigative report about nursery security Tuesday night, she found a little more than she was looking for.
In the end, she became the story.
Amarillo police arrested Cecelia Lynn Coy-Jones, 33, of Lubbock, who works for the NBC affiliate KCBD Newschannel 11 in Lubbock, as she pursued an investigative story about nursery security at Baptist St. Anthony's Hospital and Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo.
The reporter faces two counts of attempted aggravated kidnapping, according to the Amarillo Police Department. She left the Potter County Detention Center about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday after paying $10,000 in bonds.
Her station, in a statement released Wednesday, said it went after the story in Amarillo "in the wake of recent infant kidnappings in Lubbock by individuals posing as nurses."
But how does a journalist report a story like that? The answers seem difficult to find.
Greg Bruce, vice president of the University Medical Center Health System in Lubbock, said in a written statement that infant security is "a paramount concern" for the UMC and all hospitals, but said "it is apparent this investigative reporter was on assignment in Amarillo, covering hospital security measures."
"She clearly demonstrated those measures work well at both Amarillo hospitals," he said. "I hope any misunderstanding related to her identity or intent will be quickly cleared."
Scott Libin, a faculty member at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., a school for journalists and journalism students, said he was worried by Coy-Jones' arrest because there is a "legitimate public policy issue" about nursery security.
Libin, a former television reporter and news director, said journalists should not be discouraged from pursuing investigative stories. But it also doesn't mean "anything goes."
"We talk a lot about minimizing harm in pursuing important truths," said Libin, managing editor of Poynter Online.
Libin said he was worried that, in this case, a journalist was being held to a higher standard than any other person visiting the Amarillo hospitals.
"If anyone else was standing around, not working on a news story, doing the same thing or otherwise, would that person be at the risk of the same thing? I worry if a journalist could get into trouble for what anyone else could do with impunity."
But, at the same time, Libin said he also is worried about some journalists' practices under the "banner of investigative reporting."
"Simply saying it's investigative doesn't make it journalism of the highest order," he said.
Libin said he hoped KCBD would report on Coy-Jones' arrest like any other news story and explain to viewers the decision-making process that led her to Amarillo's hospitals.
"I think in this case there is a story about what occurred," he said. "It might not be the story the station wanted to tell."
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032907/ ... 8122.shtml